The Life and Lies of Dobby, the House Elf
by amitywands
Summary: Hey, This is a fanfic from Dobby's POV/based on Dobby It starts just after Dobby gives Harry Potter the warning in CoS DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters. All rights to JK Rowling, our queen :)
1. Dobby's Punishment

The Life and Lies of Dobby, the House Elf

A creature wearing a pale, patched, dirty blue sheet over his body was standing, cowering, listening to the unpleasant sound of Mr Malfoy's loud, commanding voice.

"You stupid elf! What in the name of merlin do you think you're doing?" He demanded, following with a slight sneer. "You're an ungrateful little piece of rubbish."

"Dobby is sorry sir. Dobby will iron his hands tonight, and stick his head in the microwave." Dobby replied, looking down at the shiny, polished shoes of his master.

"If you ever, EVER, leave this house without permission, merlin forbid what will be in store for you." Dobby glanced back up at Mr Malfoy. Lucius was a proud, arrogant man, intent on treating house elves like vermin. He had blonde, now greying hair, with sharp eyes. Lucius wore a black suit, emanating from which, a dark, demeaning aroma. He raised his long, ebony, metal cane and swung down, pummelling into Dobby's already red-raw back. He cringed away from the cane, but was forced to look back and right into Lucius' eyes,

"Yes master. You are wonderfully kind and I am incredibly grateful to serve you," Dobby said, not believing and hating the words. He gave Lucius a low bow and swept off towards the kitchen.

The sound of Dobby's slight footsteps echoed through the living room, his dirty, pale skin looking shabby and unhealthy. He walked past the shiny, ebony couches, the armrests studded with silver jewels. There were three couches, with recliners on each side. Lucius had already settled nicely on the couch, with Narcissa coming to join him. Draco was elsewhere, most likely lounging in his room, coming up with an argument to convince the Slytherin team to allow him a place on the team, preferably Seeker, to show that he was just as good as Perfect Potter. A sharp, gold quill, resting on a fresh roll of parchment. It had been this way for most of the summer. Until now. All of a sudden, Draco came crashing down the stairs, yelling, "Father? FATHER!"

"Draco!" Lucius hissed, "Stop acting like such a child!"

"Father, I want to be on the Slytherin Team for Quidditch," Demanded Draco, "I don't understand how Potter gets to be on the team. He isn't even that good. The teachers just go easy on him because he's the "boy who lived." He only passes subjects because of that Granger girl."

Dobby, who had been listening from the kitchen noticed a slight change in Draco's voice when he mentioned Hermione. One of anger and annoyance, to one of hidden admiration.

"You should take a leaf out of that filthy Mudblood's book. At least she makes good use of her schooling," Lucius spat back.

"The disgusting, little Mudblood is only good at school because they teach in such a stupid, Muggle fashion." Draco cringed slightly when he called Hermione a 'Mudblood,' "Why can't I go to Durmstrang, at least THEY give a proper education. Maybe I'd learn something from subjects other than-"

"Enough! Draco, your mother wishes you to go to Hogwarts as it is far closer."

"Your father and I both went to Hogwarts, and we are still a respectable family." Narcissa spoke quietly.

"Fine then mother." Draco retorted, and walked briskly out of the room.

Dobby could hear him stomping up the stairs, kicking the wall ferociously and slamming the door shut. Dobby stared around the large, spacious kitchen, until his eyes rested on the oven. He crawled timidly over to it, patting his scarred, white hands.

"Get on with it, vermin!" Lucius called out from the living room.

Dobby sighed, and braced himself. He pulled open the oven, which had heated up to 250oC and stuck his hands in. The pain seared through his pointy fingertips, up his long fingers and spread around his hand. The heat rose upwards, warming his arms. It spread all over Dobby's petite body, even though only his hands were in the torturous grasp of the oven. He was halfway through the time. The heat rose up intensely, making his body feel as though he was on fire. Dobby ought to scream and cry out in pain but he would never give the Malfoy's that pleasure of hearing his agony. In fact, it was only Lucius and Draco who really enjoyed Dobby's pain. Narcissa thought it was cruel but necessary. Dobby yanked his flaming red hands out of the oven. He glanced at his hands noticing the blisters beginning to form. Dobby inspected his palms, which were starting to peel. His flaky skin hurt like hell, burning and burning even though they weren't in the oven anymore. Dobby ran over to the magnificent kitchen sink and clicked his fingers. This sent bolts of pain up through his hands and he winced a little. The tap was now running, the cold water gushing out and cascading into the sink below. Dobby plunged his hands into the cool refreshing water. The pain flared at first but then settled as the reliefs of the water kicked in. Sighing, Dobby stood there for a couple of minutes, hoping that his warning to the great Harry Potter was understood. As long as Harry Potter stayed at home, he would be safe from the evil, dark magic that was set to invade and threaten Hogwarts School. Dobby didn't mind burning his hands if it meant Harry Potter was safe.

Dobby removed his hands from the sink and dried them gently on his fraying pillowcase. He summoned some bandages from the cupboard and wrapped it around each individual finger and his hands. The bandages were fresh and clean, a sight unusual to Dobby. Dobby was only allowed to use the supplies from his cupboard. The bandages he owned were grotty and well-used. So where had these ones come from? Perhaps Lucius didn't want his grotty bandages getting in the way of cooking dinner. Maybe Narcissa felt as though Dobby should get slightly better living conditions. Draco probably couldn't care less.


	2. The Mystery

Dobby begin to wrap his hands in bandages. He was not, of course, allowed the luxury of applying a salve to help soothe the pain in his hands. Instead he would have to deal with pains each time he so much as laid a finger on something. Dobby didn't mind though, it was all to help a wizard that he freely idolised and worshipped. A wizard so great that he stopped the Dark Lord which had led to better, kinder families for house elves. Well except for himself, he thought. And with that, he threw himself to the saucepan that had been simmering on the stove, picked it up and ferociously wacked himself on the head several times over.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT BLOODY RACKET YOU STUPID ELF! I SHOULD KILL YOU IN YOUR SLEEP YOU NASTY PIECE OF VERMIN!" Lucius Malfoy roared from the living room. Dobby sighed and with that, began picking up all the food that had been flung throughout the kitchen as a result of his punishment. He decided that it was still perfectly good food and shoved it in his pocket for later. Dobby wiped up the mess until the kitchen was looking polished and grand again and then plodded over to the stove to begin cooking yet again.

It would have been a lot quicker if Dobby was allowed to use his elf magic but, since Lucius believed that manual labour was the only way to control house elves, Dobby had to cook it by hand. He boiled the water in a saucepan and added some hard sticks of spaghetti. Dobby left that to cook by itself and moved on to preparing the mince. He separated the block of mince into small chunks, and chucked them into the frypan with a blob of tomato paste. He then diced up some carrot, tomato, basil and onion, each chop filled his withering hand with sharp pains, and then added it in with the mince. Dobby combined the mixture, cooking it until a pleasant aroma filled the kitchen. He reached for the spaghetti, drained the water and let it rest whilst he found some plates.

The plates were made of a delicate looking glass, with the spoons and forks having a grand demeanour even though they were only utensils. He also grabbed a cake stand and several small bowls for the sides. Dobby laid the smooth spaghetti down on the plate and piled the delicious meat mixture on top. He then prepared the sides by slicing some avocado and placing it into a bowl and pouring cream and sweet chilli sauce into separate bowls. He placed the sides onto the cake stand and whisked it out to the dining room table.

The table was circular. It was made of dark wood and could fit 12 people even though there were only three members of the Malfoy family. The chairs were made of the finest silver and had a grandeur look to them. Dobby placed two plates on one side and one of them on the other. This was due to Draco being such a sulky 12vie who wanted to stay as far away from his parents as possible. Draco thought that he was so cool so he had to keep up his swag at home as well. Dobby alerted Lucius that dinner was ready and then stood, with his hands held together in front of him and his head bowed, in the corner in case anyone needed assistance.

"Thank you" Narcissa whispered to Dobby to show her appreciation. With her words, Dobby felt a little more hope that he would be alright in the end.

"Narcissa," Lucius spoke sharply, "There is no need to thank this rubbish."

"You're right Lucius," Narcissa replied. She looked at Dobby, her eyes filled with empathy. It was not fair to Dobby that he was treated this harshly.

"DRACO" Lucius yelled. "DINNER'S READY!"

"I'll be down in a soon," Draco said

"NO, YOU'LL BE DOWN HERE NOW!"

"There's no need to yell Lucius. He's just a boy." Narcissa said.

"He must be disciplined at an early age"

Draco appeared suddenly at the opposite side of the polished table, glared at his father, and starting munching away into the food in front of him. Whilst the three Malfoys were eating away and enjoying the simplicity of not making their own food, Dobby sneaked some of the food from his pocket and began eating that.

After the Malfoys had finished eating, Dobby grabbed their plates and took it to the kitchen to clean. He could hear Lucius ranting on about something. He could only make of a few of the words. 'Just an annoying family' 'obsessed with muggles' Dobby could make out the sound of people spitting like something filthy had entered their mouths. 'No respect for a wizard's pride' Dobby figured out now that they were talking about the Weaslys. The Weaslys were a lovely family, in Dobby's opinion. He'd never actually talked to him, but he knew that they were nice people and that Ronald and Harry Potter were best friends. With a sigh, Dobby finished cleaning the dishes and walked back to his cupboard under the stairs. Little did Harry Potter know how alike they were. His room did not contain many belongings and most of them were filthy. There was a rack of two pillowcases for him to wear and there was a small pile fabric and rags that Dobby slept on each night. He had a little container full of personal belongings and in the corner there was a box of supplies that Dobby used every day. He sorted through it, because this was where his clean bandage had come from, and found three new tins of Pumpkin Soup, a whole new first aid kit, a new pillowcase to wear and a small crotchet blanket. Dobby stared in awe. Never had he gotten such luxuries and this again caused him to wonder where it had come from. Just as he was turning around to lay the blanket on the pile of rags, which was used as a bed, he noticed a note stuck to the box.

_Just trying to make life slightly more comfortable-N.M_

**Hey sorry for the wait. I wrote this chapter and then it deleted oops :/**

**Yeah this may have been a boring chapter but no one follows me so it doesn't matter lol. I don't really like how it was written and I think the original chapter 2 that I wrote was written better but oh whale.**

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**Leaving a review would be nice as well. If you do leave a review comment your fan account in the review (if you have one) and I'll give you a spam**


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